With the wide adoption of Short Message Service (“SMS”) for text messaging on mobile phones, as well as the increasing openness of telephone networks, telephone phishing is on the rise. Telephone phishing comprises an attempt to get a user to communicate telephonically with a party whom the user does not know, without accurately reveling that party's true identity or intent, often in an attempt to defraud the user financially or to steal personal information. Telephone phishing frequently takes the form of attempting to get the user to call a premium phone number which results in a charge to the caller and a payment to the phishing party. Another common form of telephone phishing involves getting the user to call a number which plays a recording, asking the user to enter credit card, banking or other financial or personal information under some type of false pretense, such as stating that the message is a security check from the user's financial institution. Other times, telephone phishing is of a more general nature, such as tricking a user into calling an unscrupulous business with which the user does not really wish to communicate, in an attempt to sell the user something such as timeshare property or questionable investments.
These attempts to get a user to call a target number can be made in various ways. One technique is to call a user's phone and let it ring only once, such that the target number is shown on the user's phone as having placed a missed call. Users will sometimes call the number from which the missed call originated out of curiosity, or thinking that the call might have been important. Other techniques involve sending the user voice messages or instant messages directing the user to call the target number under some type of false pretense (e.g., stating that the user has won a prize, or that the user's bank account has been compromised and follow-up action is required). In other instances, phone phishing can be as simple as placing the target number in a spam advertisement or on a (malicious) website, typically offering the user some sort of prize or reward for calling.
Generally, telephone users have no way to ascertain the reputation or legitimacy of the party associated with the target number, if that party is not known to the user. This creates opportunity for criminal activities and unscrupulous business practices such as those described above, which exploit unaware users. It would be desirable to address these issues.